Please Return To Me
by Septdeneuf
Summary: Piper couldn't hold back her tears as she stared at the white marble and read the words on the stone over and over again. Chris Perry Halliwell 2004 to 2012... But is he really gone forever? R&R, please!
1. My great loss

Please return to me

Chapter 1 – My great loss

A/N: I don't expect this story to have many readers, because, well, it's a story were Chris starts out dead, that's not the best way to attract reviewers. But who says death is permanent in Charmed universe? Well, just a thought… ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed and I know you know that.

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A flower bucket…

Piper couldn't bring herself to let go of it. It was the only thing she had here for support. She looked around the place. It was spring, the birds were singing merrily and there were cherry blossoms spread on the ground.

It was warm around her and the gentle breeze of wind was wonderful, but she hardly took notice of it all. She wore a long black coat, but still she was freezing. Not for the weather but for the sight in front of her.

It was a grave.

It was not very special, looked like most others in the surroundings. The tombstone was of a simple white marble and there was not a lot of text on it.

But the person it belonged to was very special.

_2004-2012_ was written underneath the name.

Only 8 short years were the time she had had to spend with this person.

Today was the 14th of April 2016. Today, exactly four years ago her youngest son's life had brutally been stolen by a demon who hadn't even known his name.

Four years and the pain was still as fresh and strong as it had been on the first day.

The flowers fell from her hands down onto the tiny grave. She dropped to her knees and started crying uncontrollably.

Someone had told her once that she needed to move on, someday it would be alright, but she knew better. This would never be alright. Her baby boy was dead and nothing could change that.

Thinking about it always made her cry again. When his older self from the future had died she had always wanted to see her baby growing up to be this brave young man she had got to know for 1 1/2 years. But her baby hadn't even reached the age of 10. It was so unfair.

The tears intensified when she looked at the small grave she was sitting in front of. He had only been 1,10 meters high when it had happened. So small. She always thought of how much he missed. He would never have a family, never learn to drive never make it to his high school prom.

Sobbing she picked up the flowers off the floor and draped them carefully on the grave. She came here almost every week if she could make it, but every month at least. It was the only thing that gave her the feeling of being close to her son, even if she wasn't.

She cried even more, when she remembered that fateful day 4 years ago when her little boy's life had been ended…

_Flashback_

"_Mommy, can you help me with my math homework?", Chris asked while he was running down the stairs. _

"_I told you not to run inside of the manor Chris, all the things standing here are very old and you could break them if you aren't careful. Besides, the stairs without shoes is a big no, don't you see how easily you could fall off?", Piper scolded. She never really managed to teach her sons these simple things which was highly frustrating for her. But at least they became very good at collecting arguments for their point of view._

"_Well, mom, I don't see how any item inside this house could not have been replaced at least twice with all the demon attacks so they're definitely not old, and there is carpet on the stairs so the odds of slipping and falling are very low. Besides, I've done that all my life so by now I know how to run down the stairs the proper way", he said without hesitation. He had told her the exact same things over and over many times, but she just didn't seem to buy it. He had no idea why, all these arguments were very logical to him._

"_But you didn't answer my question, can you help me with my math homework now?", he repeated._

_Piper just rolled her eyes. He was in the second grade in elemental school, and he was very intelligent, he never had any real problems with homework, the only thing he had trouble with was his never ending laziness. "Chris, you can do them on your own, I'm certain of that", she told him._

"_But they're so complicated, I don't understand it", he insisted and put on his puppy dog eyes that were totally irresistible. _

_Irresistible to everyone but his mother. "Don't try to manipulate me, young man, it's not gonna work. You need to learn to do things on your own or you're never going to have success in life, so go upstairs and finish them, I can look over it for you when you're done", Piper offered with a face of stone that told her son he did not have any chance to get her help on these homework. _

_But very fortunate for him this was just the moment his father chose to orb in the living room. _

"_Hello Daddy", Chris greeted him and ran to him to give him a hug. This instantly put a smile on Leo's face. He was always happy to see both his sons loved him, especially after all the trouble he had had with older Chris. He was proud to have corrected the mistakes his other timeline's self had made._

"_Hey little guy", he said and stroke his hair. _

"_Daddy can you help me with my math homework? I don't understand it and Mommy's too busy", Chris asked again with his puppy dog eyes._

_Piper instantly knew that this totally screwed up all her efforts to teach her son how to do things on his own. Leo was always wax in Chris' hands, when Chris did this look. _

_And she was right. Without hesitation her husband replied, "Of course I'll help you"_

"_Leo", Piper growled in a low voice that told her husband he was doing something wrong. _

"_What?", he asked innocently and wore a look on his face that resembled a huge teddy bear. Why were all the men in her life so cute? She never stood a chance to be a good mother if they could all manipulate her so easily._

"_Chris needs to learn to do things on his own", she said anyway. She had years of experience to be impervious to their cuteness. _

_Leo immediately blushed and put an apologetic look on his face. Then he said, "Come on Piper, just once, it won't hurt"_

_Piper rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ok" She was scolding herself on the inside. Why did she always let go so easily? No wonder her children grew up to be such spoiled brats, it was all her fault. _And partly Leo's_, she reminded herself._

"_Great" Chris said and ran up the stairs, Leo close behind him. Piper shook her head and went to the conservatory. Sometimes she envied her husband that he got to spend so much time with their children, while she always needed to work. _

_Suddenly she was in a mood to bake cookies to have some quality time with her family who all adored her cooking. _

But I can't_, she reminded herself and her good mood dropped. She had to do paperwork for P3. In the 21 century you would have thought the paperwork would be less and everything would be automatic with computers, but instead the paperwork became more, just not on regular paper anymore but instead on computers. _

_So she spent the beautiful spring afternoon inside doing bills and databanks on her laptop. Really just wonderful…_

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"_Piper?", Leo asked and entered the conservatory._

"_Yeah?", she replied without even taking her eyes off the screen. Something was wrong with this expense, but she could not pinpoint what. But no matter how often she calculated 7 minus 4 did not equal 251 like her laptop wanted her to believe._

"_We're done with that homework…", he started but Piper cut him off._

"_The one you shouldn't have participated in doing in the first place?", she asked in a friendly tone, but Leo knew she was still angry._

"_Well, yeah, but anyway, we're done, and Wyatt and Chris were asking if I could got to the attic with them a little to help them practice their powers. So I just wanted to know if you're ok with that", he explained in a very quiet tone, careful not to make her angry in any way. _

"_I am. So what?", she asked and still kept looking on the screen. After some alterations by her the calculation no longer equaled 251 but now 708. That made even less sense. Or maybe she was getting old._

"_Uh well, the thing is, the Elder's called me and I'm supposed to be in a meeting now, so I was wondering whether you could help them practice", he said hesitantly._

_Now Piper finally looked up. "Ok, maybe getting my head off this mess is going to help"_

_He smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks", he said and orbed out. Piper stood up and stretched a little. She had been sitting in front of this thing way too long. She walked up the stairs to see that her two boys were already in the attic. _

"_Hey you two", she said when she entered the room._

"_Hey mom", both of them replied. _

"_Look what I can do", Wyatt said and threw up his shield. It covered the entire attic. He had never done one so big yet. _

_Piper was impressed and said, "Very good Wyatt"_

_Chris just snorted and used his telekinesis to throw his brother off his feet. While Wyatt was landing on his butt Chris said, "Shields are boring"_

_Wyatt glared at his younger brother and threw a small shield in his direction that knocked him off his feet. "Shield's may be boring, but they sure are useful", he said with a triumphant look on his face._

"_Boys, I told you so many times, don't use your powers on each other", Piper got in between. Both of them shot her a look of annoyance that was exactly the same. "We were just having fun, mom", Chris whined while Wyatt said, "No one got hurt!"_

"_Still, you two have to learn to be more responsible with your powers. And you can't use them on each other", Piper said with a look of steel on her face._

"_Ok ok", they both said in unison and looked in opposite directions. _

_Piper was just about to say something more to them as a demon chose that exact moment to shimmer in._

_Wyatt immediately threw up his shield to surround the two boys, while Piper glared at the demon._

"_You guys are annoying, you know that?", she asked rhetorically, before blowing him up. Wyatt put his shield down again. "Isn't there some way to stop them from coming here? Permanently?", he asked while observing the new scorch mark on the rock that already had many fellows there._

"_Well, if we used something like that, they would just shimmer elsewhere, like on the street where they could hurt innocents when they can't get to us, so it's better if they go here, where we can fend them off", Piper explained. _

_Chris was not very interested in the demons, they were merely annoying for him. He walked to the back of the attic where the book of shadows lay, to see whether this demon had an entry and if so he could cross it off. It was a habit of his always to cross out the demons that were already vanquished. _

_While he was flipping through the pages, a demon shimmered in behind him without making a noise. Neither Chris nor Piper and Wyatt noticed the demons presence._

_Just as Chris had found the right page he felt a sudden pain. A lot of pain. Before he could even see what was going on he felt a scream of agony leave his lips. He looked down at himself just in time to see the athame that had been plunged into his chest being pulled out again._

_Piper watched in horror as her baby boy dropped to the floor. She felt her heart stop when she saw all the blood. Instinctively she blew the demon up than she rushed next to her son, with Wyatt hot on her trail._

"_Leo, Chris is hurt", she screamed as loud as she could, while she was trying to hide from Wyatt how terrified she was. Why did her sons always have to be hurt like this? Why did she always have to have the fear one of them wouldn't wake up again, while other mothers' only concern was the best way to drive their kids to baseball practice?_

_Wyatt looked at his mother in fear and asked, "He's gonna be ok, right? Daddy can fix this, right?" His voice was trembling slightly. He was really scared. _

_Piper nodded, unable to articulate a word. She touched her son's neck to feel for a pulse, but she couldn't find one. _You're just doing it wrong Piper, of course there is a pulse. There has to be_, she tried to calm herself, but she was not so sure if that was right. "Leo!", she screamed again._

_Finally her husband orbed in with a look of concern on his face. "What's wrong?", he asked._

"_Heal", his wife just commanded without taking her eyes off her youngest son. _

_Leo's eyes grew wide as he saw all the blood on the floor, but he immediately obeyed. _

_As he bent down and let the golden glow illuminate from his hands he immediately knew something was wrong. He became even more scared but tried to ignore the thoughts of what was maybe happening. He just tried to concentrate on the healing while his older son and wife were watching breathlessly. _

_After several seconds of healing that should have been enough usually there was still no effect of his healing. He knew deep inside what this meant, he knew the exact feeling and its consequence, but he refused to believe that was the case now. He concentrated even harder and watched the golden glow intensify. It had to work, it simply had to._

_He remained that way for over a minute, unable to see the obvious. Wyatt and Piper both watched in fear and prayed to whatever force was out there that it would still work and in a second Chris would be sitting up and asking why they were all so pale._

_But he never did._

_Slowly Leo realized his defeat. He felt tears well up in the eyes as the harsh realization sunk in. It didn't work. It wouldn't anymore. Chris was gone…_

_Slowly his hands sank down on their own accord and a lonely tear began running down his cheek._

_Piper stared at Leo and commanded in a high pitched voice, "Go on, heal!"_

_He looked her in the eye and she saw the emotions on his face tell her everything she needed to know. But this couldn't be right. It simply had to be wrong. Slowly he shook his head and said, " ' doesn't work…"_

_He started sobbing and stared at Chris' body. _

_Piper looked at him in disbelief. "No", she said. She felt tears on her face. She knew he was telling the truth. She looked down at her son's body and said, "No", again. Then she started crying hard. "Oh please no peanut, no", she babbled._

_Wyatt's eyes were fixed on his little brother. It felt absolutely impossible what his parents were saying there. No, Chris couldn't be dead, he simply couldn't. He couldn't have left forever. But he had…_

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_4 days later the nightmare had become reality for everyone._

_Wyatt sat on a seat in the second row, distant from everyone else. He didn't want to talk, he couldn't. _

_His mother sat in the front row his mother was crying. Wyatt could only see her back shaking and he knew how hard this was for her. Leo sat next to her. He would've comforted her, but he couldn't. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that his little boy should be gone forever. That he lost Chris for the second time now. That he would never see him at 22 becoming the man he had known. He was unable to accept that both of them were gone, future Chris and now his Chris as well._

_On the other side of the row Wyatt saw his aunts. Paige was crying in her hand silently, while Phoebe was staring at the front with tears running down her face slowly. _

_Next to him sat his grandpa. Wyatt had left the two seats between them empty. He was not able to talk to anyone, and so he wanted to sit alone were no one would be trying to engage him in a conversation. _

_Grandpa was trying to put on a brave face but failed miserably at that. His face was red and it was evident that he had cried. _

_In the other rows were people Wyatt didn't really care about. He saw Darryl and Sheila and recognized some of Chris' teachers in the back rows as well as some of Chris classmates. _

_It was the funeral. _

_At the front there was it. A small coffin made of oak wood with loads of flowers on its top. In front of it someone had put a photo of Chris were he was smiling broadly. _

_A slow sad music was playing. Then a man made a speech were he said some things about how Chris had been so young and stuff, but Wyatt didn't listen._

_It was just a small box. How could Chris be in there? Wasn't he cold? How could he not be around tomorrow? How was it possible that he wouldn't throw a pillow into Wyatt's face tomorrow to wake him up how he always used to? How could he never talk to him again?_

_He felt very lonely now. He was all alone in the house now? How was he supposed to cope with the emptiness of the house, of their shared room? What was he going to do all alone now?_

_It was unbelievable for him. He didn't really notice the tears clouding his vision, he was too lost in his thoughts. Chris was eight. Had been eight. That was no age to die. That was barely an age to bind your own shoes so how could he be gone now? He was so small. _

_And it was all because of magic._

_Wyatt was certain, had there been no magic in the lives of the Halliwells, Chris would still be alive. If none of them had had powers the demon would have never shimmered into the attic and he wouldn't have had the chance to do what he did._

_He knew that his logic was flawed. If not for magic his mom and dad would never have met and both he and Chris would never have existed but he didn't care. The only thing that mattered was that Chris was dead now, because of magic. _

_It was just then Wyatt made a promise to himself. _

_He would never use magic again, no potions, no spells and no powers. It was the least he could do to honor Chris' memory. He didn't mind about possible consequences. If demons came Piper could just blow them up, if he needed to go somewhere he could just walk or take the bus like other kids, he didn't need to orb._

_Half an hour later the funeral was over. _

_Wyatt stared at the small hill were his brother had just been buried. He had tears in his eyes as he threw a flower onto the hill. _Goodbye Chris_, he thought._

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Wyatt stared at the calendar in the kitchen. 4 years. He could barely believe how long it had been. And he still missed his younger brother the way he had from the very first day on. He would've been 12 by now. Wyatt would've loved to see him at that age. Or any age that was older than 8 in fact. But he would never get the chance.

He poured himself some milk with his eyes still fixed on the calendar. He could feel tears in his eyes, but he couldn't cry now. It was a school day and he would have to go there. He was absolutely not in the mood for that.

His aunt Paige walked in and looked at the table. "Uh, Wyatt", she said and pointed to were he was holding the milk carton.

He looked there and realized he had not hit the cup with the milk but only poured everything on the table. "Whoops", he said and started looking for a sponge to wipe it off again.

"Do you know where Piper is?", Paige asked and started the coffee machine.

Wyatt hesitated for a moment. Then he just said, "It's the fourteenth of April" He couldn't bring himself to say that his mother was probably at the graveyard. He just hated the way that sounded and had always hated the fact that his brother was there. But that was nothing new.

"Oh", Paige said and immediately felt uncomfortable. Of course, she should've known.

It was just then Piper stepped through the front door. She was wearing her only black coat and this was the only day of the year she did that.

Wyatt looked up and they had eye contact for a moment. They both knew exactly what the other thought. No words exchanged, none were needed. Paige didn't know what to say, so she kept quiet.

Until a shriek from above caught the three's attention.

"Demon in the attic!", Phoebe screamed. Paige immediately took Piper's hand and orbed them both upstairs. Wyatt stood up and rushed up the stairs immediately. He had kept his promise not to use magic and he also didn't want to hitchhike with other people's orbs. But he needed to know what demon had the boldness to show up at Halliwell manor on this particular day.

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When they rematerialized Piper saw the demon standing there. It was a female demon who was wearing a long dark red skirt and an olive shirt, a combination that oddly enough suited her very well. And even weirder she was waving a white tissue.

She immediately looked at Piper and Paige. "Oh glad you're here. I'm sorry about this", she said and pointed to the tissue, "but I simply didn't have a white flag."

"Why would you need a white flag?", Paige asked confused. This was new. No demon had so far waved a white flag at them. She was absolutely not in a mood for demons right now, and she didn't want to upset Piper even more than this day already brought on on its own.

"Because I want to talk to you", the demon said smiling.

"Why would you want to do that?", Paige replied.

"Well, I'm a seer and I'm sure I have some information you would like to have", the demon explained still smiling.

Piper looked at her with the coldest glare she could manage and replied simply, "We don't make deals with demons."

The demon looked Piper in the eye without breaking underneath her stare. "Not even if the demon told you your son is still alive?"

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A/N: Well, so what do you think of it?

This story is really against my usual stuff to do, I once said I didn't like writing about the changed future, but here I am doing just that. And I also don't like to write flashbacks, but now I did one. And there are probably going to be more of them throughout the story.

Well, please review!


	2. Trapped and Terrified

Please Return to me

Chapter 2 – Trapped and Terrified

A/N: Ok, now I need to do some fast typing so I can get this chapter done until tomorrow because I won't be able to go online for the week after that. And then I would leave you all without an update for too long for my taste, so let's get this done!

And thanks a lot for all the reviews, guys I would never have expected to get more than ten and now I got 31! That's just unbelievable, I would love to jump through all your PC screens and smother you guys with hugs. Pity that won't work, though.

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of the characters or any idea how to express that in a creative way.

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Silence.

Dead, all covering silence.

Darkness.

No light to be seen, no sound to be heard, no scent to smelt, no touch to be felt, no flavor to be tasted. Absolutely nothing was around.

Except for his mind. His consciousness.

It was scary to no words. He couldn't move, couldn't talk, wasn't even sure if there was something to move.

Chris had no idea where he was, how long he had been there or what he was supposed to do. The only thing he knew was, that he would've been grateful for being somewhere else, anywhere. He would've done anything only to see something again. Or to feel, or to do anything. Anything to force away the horrible nothingness of his whereabouts.

He could tell it had been a long time. A long time without anything happening. He was alone with his thoughts. Maybe he only consisted of thoughts, he was not aware whether his body was, where it was supposed to be.

The last thing he remembered before being thrown into this mind crashing darkness was a stabbing pain in the back. After that everything had went black and it had never changed.

Somehow he had gotten the impression that wherever the place was he was currently occupying, it seemed to be narrow. He had never been someone to have claustrophobia but the long time he had spent inside here had changed him. He longed for a bit of sunlight or at least some picture to look at, but what he craved for most was the soothing touch of his mother's, her gentle hands caressing his face and telling him that everything was fine, that he was going to be ok soon, but he had no idea how to get it.

He felt as if he was loosing his mind. He had tried talking to himself to only preserve a little bit of sanity, but he had not been able to produce a sound. He had tried imagining something to be there, but it had done him no good. No matter how hard he had concentrated he hadn't been able to shut out the depressing darkness.

He had felt like crying so often, but it hadn't been possible.

He hadn't even slept. All the time some invisible force had compelled him to stay awake, to stay conscious. There was no escape to the terrifying nature of the place.

He needed to get out of here, but he couldn't. There were so many things he needed but there was absolutely nothing he could do and this inability made him feel even worse than the plain situation.

But now, so many years after he had been put wherever it was he finally noticed a difference. He felt a pull. He couldn't say how relieved he was to finally feel a change.

The pull intensified and he was craving to let it do whatever it purpose was. He didn't even care what the purpose could possibly be.

And then, finally, his wildest dreams were fulfilled and his environment changed.

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Impatiently Corox waited for the magic to work. He looked at the green stone on the precious weapon annoyed. It had started to glow over a minute ago and still nothing had happened.

A sudden surge of panic overcame him as he thought of the possibility that the athame was malfunctioning and thus destroying every hope he had to accomplish the deal he had made so many years ago.

The glow intensified and the young demon held his breath. He couldn't have waited four years for nothing. He let out a relieved sigh as he finally saw the small boy's spiritual frame forming.

The athame stopped glowing and the boy looked like any spirit there was usually. He was transparent and glowing.

"Finally", Corox exclaimed and took a tape measure.

Chris looked at him scared and confused. There were no words to describe how happy he was to finally be free and to see and hear something, but he was not so happy about a demon standing right in front of him trying to measure his left arm.

"What are you doing?", he asked and was very surprised to find his voice in the same way it had so long ago before he had been trapped wherever it had been.

He looked at his new surroundings closely. It looked like your ordinary underworld cave, lit by torches that spilt an orange light and made the cave feel somehow cozy. Behind him stood a table with an athame lying on it that seemed to be rather precious. It had a beautiful green handle with a stone that seemed to emit some kind of light, that was not magical in the ordinary way, but still seemed to have its own kind of magic. It looked like an emerald, but Chris wasn't sure. He didn't know a lot about gemstones.

The demon didn't answer him, instead he measured Chris' height and made some quick notes on a piece of paper that was lying next to the athame.

"Hey!", Chris shouted at the demon causing that one to jump slightly. He had just gotten out of the horrible situation he had been in, but the rude behavior of this demon was not tolerable. He thought about this thought for a second and realized he was pretty disoriented. It didn't matter at all if some demon was rude to him, but somehow his mind put more weight than necessary on this particular bit of information.

"What?", the demon whose name was Corox asked, as if his activity was self-explaining.

"What are you doing?", Chris repeated his previous question impatiently.

"Checking you", Corox replied sounding like someone who was very bored of having to state the obvious.

"Why?", Chris asked confused.

"To see if everything is in order", the demon said annoyed. Why did he even need to talk to his commodities? He had absolutely no desire to have a conversation with a little boy whose soul had just been sucked out of an athame which he had inhabited for the last 4 years.

"Why do you care?", Chris asked and tried to ban the fear out of his voice. It seemed pretty odd to him that a demon wanted to check him, and if a demon did something odd it usually meant something bad.

"Because I need to know if I can still get the full prize", the demon said while he was trying to measure the length of Chris' legs.

"Prize?", Chris echoed incredulously. He had no idea what this meant, but it was scaring him almost more than the deadly silence wherever he had been.

Corox just waved off. "Never mind", he said.

Chris did still mind, but there were other things he needed to know first. "Where have I been?"

"In there", Corox told him and pointed toward the weapon on the table.

Chris' eyes grew wide and he repeated in shock, "In there?" That sounded even worse than not knowing where it had been.

"Yup. Trapped your soul in there. The rest of you is dead", Corox said and took a bubblegum from the table to put inside his mouth.

"D… dead?", Chris stuttered. He looked down at himself. He let out a yelp when he realized he was entirely transparent.

Corox looked up irritated and met Chris' terrified gaze. "Are you deaf? Of course you're dead. You wouldn't be of any use for me if you were alive."

"Wh… what kind of use?", Chris asked uncertainly. He felt as if he was inside some very bad dream.

"I'm too lazy to explain right now. Doesn't matter much anyway", the demon shrugged it off. That was an outright lie, but he had no desire to get into a long discussion. It did matter, a lot actually, but it was not of importance whether the brat knew or not. The only thing that mattered was to see whether his soul had taken damage of any kind that would lower the payment Corox would receive. He had not waited 4 years to prepare everything only to have a little bad quality blow the deal.

Chris felt pretty lost right now. He looked at the demon uncertain what to do. Was he really dead? How was that even possible? Did his family know about that? Did they know he had been trapped in that athame? It were all questions he had no answer to. And the demon didn't really give the impression he would answer them even if he knew all these things.

Corox didn't care about the child's silence. Instead he kept on talking. "Well, you're going to be back in there in no time anyway. I just cast a spell to get you out for an hour or two to check you and to have my costumer observe you"

Chris stared at him in shock. Costumer? Prize? Was the demon going to sell the athame? And above all, getting back in there? Was he crazy? This had definitely been the worst experience he had ever made and there was no way he would ever go back there. "I won't go back in there", Chris said determinedly.

The demon chuckled slightly. "It's not like you have much choice. You soul is bound to that thing now, the spell can only separate you from it temporary after that you're going to be sucked right back in, whether you want it or not."

That was too much for Chris. He needed to get out of there. That was all way too scary for him and the prospect of possibly going back into the nothingness was terrifying him to no end. So he did what his instincts told him to and tried to orb.

And much to his surprise it worked.

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Leo stared into the cloudy sky over San Francisco with glassy eyes.

He sat on the Golden Gate Bridge, the only place where he could be alone. Tears glistened in his eyes and he had no reason to keep them from falling. Today was the day.

The only day he could not stand to see his family.

He counted the day that had been this one 4 years ago as the worst day of his life. There had been other pretty bad days in his life, but somehow most of them had offered him some kind of compensation.

The day he had died in World War 2 had been bad, but he had been made a whitelighter the same day, which was one of the best things that had ever happened to him, it had led him to Piper, to his family, to a kind of luck he had never had before.

The day were Chris from the future had died had been very hard on him. But it had also been the day were his Chris, his little boy had been born, and that had made up for all the other bad things that had happened this day, because it had given him the chance to make all his previous life's mistakes up to Chris, which had meant a lot to him.

But this day had no been good in any way. He had simply lost his young boy without any warning and for no reason at all. He had never had the chance to make up for so many things he should've rectified and he would never have that chance again.

4 years and it still hurt like hell.

Sometimes Leo imagined what Chris would be like, if he still lived. He imagined how he would've looked like, blowing out the candles on the cake for his twelfth birthday. He imagined how he would moan about too much homework at school or how he would eat a huge bowl of ice cream.

These thoughts always made him cry. Because none of that would ever happen anymore.

Even more tears were rising up in his eyes as he remembered that horrible day.

Flashback 

An hour had passed since their little boy had left them and now the manor was in Chaos. Leo could've just lost it all, but he knew he needed to keep it together for his family.

"Piper!", he said while shaking his wife. She was crying and screaming as if there was no tomorrow. He could understand that perfectly, but she totally lost check of her emotions and her powers. They were both standing in the living room, where flower vases, chairs and even a couch had already spontaneously exploded.

_She didn't seem to even hear him, was too lost in her grief. Leo had to be careful not to be hit by the shards of a flower vase that had just blown up._

"_Piper this won't help him!", he yelled at his wife, desperately hoping to get through to her. _

_She finally seemed to have noticed his words, because the interior made a pause in blowing itself up. She looked at him through her tears and asked in despair, "Then what will?"_

"_I don't know", Leo confessed with tears running down his cheeks as well. He hated it to feel this powerless._

"_Can't you… can't you ask the elders?", Piper asked between her sobs. She looked at him with a trace of hope on her face. _

_He looked at her in defeat. He knew exactly, that the elders did not possess this kind of power. Death was not their business. "They can't do anything", he whispered, but she heard him._

"_Please, try", Piper begged._

_Seeing his wife this way broke his heart and even if it did no good, it was at least worth a try. "Ok", he said reluctantly and orbed out, leaving his wife and the furniture alone with each other._

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_The female Elder he had run into, who looked very young but of whom he knew that she was over a hundred years old looked at him with genuine sympathy on her face. "I'm so sorry for your loss", she said and patted his back._

_He nodded quietly and waited for her to answer his request. "But there is nothing we can do, trust me, we would if we could, but you know it yourself, this is not within our power", she continued with a sad look on her face. The young death of the boy touched her more than it would have some other elder, because she herself had not been very old when she had died, but unlike her he had no chance of being reborn as a whitelighter, because he had already been a witch and part whitelighter._

"_If there's anything else I can do…", she started, but Leo waved off._

"_Thanks for your time", he said quietly and orbed back out. He had expected this answer, but he had no idea how to tell Piper, that her last bit of hope had been crushed…_

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_Wyatt stared at the white blanket in disbelief. He barely noticed the tears running down his cheeks._

_The only thing spinning in his head was the knowledge of who was underneath the blanket. It was his brother. His own younger brother did not need to breath anymore. This was plain impossible. How could this have happened?_

_What if he had noticed the demon sooner? Would he have been able to do something about it? He knew that he would never get the answers to these questions and that he shouldn't blame himself but it made no difference to him._

_His brother was dead and he had been killed while Wyatt had been in the same room. He could've noticed it, but he didn't. That was everything that mattered. _

_He looked up as the attic door opened with a squeak. His aunt Paige entered. _

"_Wyatt? What happened? I couldn't get a clear word out of Piper", she said with concern in her voice. She spotted the blanket Wyatt had been staring at and was immediately aware of the fact that whatever was underneath it, had a very human shape. And a very childlike shape._

"_Where's Chris?", she asked with a sudden rush of panic. No, he couldn't be… or could he?_

_Wyatt simply pointed to the blanket, unable to articulate a word._

_Shaking, Paige walked over to examine what was there. She knelt down beside the spot and slowly raised her hands to lift the blanket. _

_She paused for a moment, unsure whether she could handle what she was about to see. But she didn't know what she would see, so her only choice was to look._

_Very slowly she lifted the blanket up, bracing herself for the worst, but nothing could've prepared her for what she was seeing._

"_No", she whispered as she saw her nephew lying there, pale, with a huge wound on his stomach, as if a knife had pierced him through his entire body. As it had. _

_She touched his hand and felt a little disappearing warmth. And she knew what it meant. There was not going to be any warmth in this hand ever again. _

_She felt a tear running down her cheek and then a soft sob left her lips on its own account. She could not say anything, not take her eyes of the boy's slender frame. _

_Her nephew had died again…_

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Leo felt as if he was torturing himself by reliving these moments, but there was nothing he could ever do to forget them. He looked up again, tried not to think about it even though it was no use, until he saw heard the familiar sound of orbing.

He was confused, other people barely came here, were afraid of the height. Except for Chris he had never seen anyone enjoy being there.

He waited until the orbs dissipated and stared in complete shock as they revealed a familiar form.

"Daddy", the boy said in a scared voice.

Leo couldn't answer. Chris looked exactly the way he had 4 years ago, the same clothes, the same height, the same hair. Except for the fact that he was transparent.

But this was impossible. His son was dead, he knew that, and he would never have been allowed to see his spirit so early.

Leo could do nothing but stare in confusion as he spoke again. "Daddy, please help me!"

He heard the voice at is it came from some distant place, as if it wasn't real, but it was. He felt like paralyzed, barely noticed the desperate look on his son's face.

Until something else brought him back to reality.

A demon shimmered in behind his youngest son and grabbed his small arm.

"Daddy, please!", Chris screamed in fear. Instinctively Leo tried to use his lightning power to vanquish the demon, but he shimmered out with Chris before Leo could reach him.

"No!" he screamed when he realized what had just happened. He needed to do something, he needed to tell Piper about this. Hurriedly he orbed back to the manor.

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"You're lying!", Piper screamed at the Seer. Suddenly she became very furious. No demon could just shimmer in and pretend she knew something they didn't. And no one was going to play with her mind to make her believe Chris was still alive. She knew it, she had seen him, he was gone.

The seer rolled her eyes. "Do you really think I would shimmer here and make a peace offering just to lie to you?"

"Yes, we do", Phoebe said, backing her sister up.

"You know, I've got better things to do with my time than to lie to you. I'm a busy girl", the seer said.

"And we're supposed to believe that?", Phoebe asked angrily. She couldn't belief this demon had the boldness to come up with a lie like that on this particular day.

"Yes", the seer answered and started fiddling with a stain she had just found on her tissue.

"Even if you did say the truth, why would you tell us, why would you care? You're evil", Paige bumped in.

The seer looked at her thoughtfully. "You know, I've never believed we Seers are really evil. I see us more like messengers of fate. If some higher force wants some things to happen we get to see these things. Much like your sister's premonitions. I can't control what I see and often I have no idea what it means, so I get the information to the people who have the most use of it. Which in this case would be you guys", she explained.

"Messengers of fate", Piper repeated with despise in her voice.

"Yes", the Seer confirmed. "I don't know why I saw that but now I tell the people who need to know it", she repeated.

"What did you see?", Wyatt asked from the door with a glimpse of hope in his voice. He didn't care whether this woman was trustworthy or not, the only thing that mattered to him was the possibility that his brother was possibly still alive. He couldn't understand how his mother and the aunts could not just be eager to hear what she had to say.

"Well, your brother's soul is kept hostage. He was trapped in an athame for 4 years, but now he has been released", she told him.

"Wh… what for?", Wyatt asked with a little shaky voice. It seemed so cold the way she was telling it, but she did not seem to have a lot of time to explain.

"I don't know yet, I haven't seen enough yet, but the plans the demon who has his soul has seem to be very bad. But I'll have to wait to see what the purpose of all this is", she explained.

Piper just wanted to answer that she had blown up the demon who had killed her son, so there was definitely no athame left, but before she could say anything or just wrap her mind around the possibility that maybe the demon wasn't lying and what the implications were, someone orbed in.

As soon as the orbs had formed a solid form she looked in the face of her very shaken up husband.

"I just saw Chris"

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A/N: Not a very good cliffie, but well. I'm thinking about changing the rating of this fic, because it is going to get pretty mean to poor Chris, but it would not make a lot of sense for a fifteen year old to write a story recommended for 16 year olds, now would it?

Anyway, personal notes to those who need it and a big hug to everyone else:

Grey Daze's Nirvana: I don't know if you're the one to thank, but I'm pretty certain you are, thanks a lot for adding my story to the C2 archive, you can't imagine how proud I am because of that.

Julia Adele: well, I tried to do more on how Leo is fairing but maybe I'll do a little bit more on that next chapter, it wasn't very much yet. Oh and about Wyatt giving up magic, I hadn't even planned that at first, but then I somehow liked the idea.

Me: something like that in maths A levels? Ouch, that sounds pretty bad.

Katie: Well, I like fics most were I feel on the verge of crying so that's what I try to do in my stories. Glad you think that's professional, I sometimes have the feeling I'm a little sadistic ;)

Piper Chris fan: Well, it might be a while until they actually meet him again. We'll see.

Starra86: Actually I haven't decided for a happy or bad ending yet. Both has its interesting aspects…

Danni86: I think you wrote the longest review of everyone. I'm glad you like it so much, and you're hopes helped I think, I never got so many reviews on a single chapter before. And I really enjoyed writing about their family life, as much as about the tragedy.

Midnite-magic: Here, do you need a tissue. You know, I was very proud when I read that you cried, does that seem sick to you? Well, if it does, sorry, but I like knowing that I'm actually touching people.

Teal-lover: You're right, only 8 years of that future would not be very much. But at the moment the poor guy isn't fairing too well even though he is not really gone yet.

Ceres217: Man, ich hoffe, ich habe jetzt die Zahlen nicht falsch geschrieben. Ist immer verwirrend mit nummern hintendran. Mir ist aufgefallen, dass du aus Deutschland kommst, deswegen gehe ich jetzt mal ganz frech davon aus dass du deutsch kannst. Vielen Dank für deine ganzen lieben Kommentare für die ganzen verschiedenen stories, ich hab mich da richtig gefreut, dass sich mal jemand alle angesehen hat.

Thanks so much to everyone! Hope you liked the new chapter, too!


	3. Is it save to believe it?

Please return to me

Chapter 3 – Is it save to believe it?

A/N: I actually didn't know what to do with this chappie for a while, but now I somehow got the feeling I should do an update for no particular reason, but I figured some people would like to read on.

Disclaimer: The funny thing is, that my situation about owning or not owning Charmed has not changed over the last week where the last time I wrote a disclaimer was, so I have to say I'm still not owning it.

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"Slippery little devil, huh?", Corox said in careless tone, only to brush away the insecurity he was feeling in reality. He hadn't been aware that the child could so easily escape from his control. He had been terrified that by not considering the kid's ability to orb he could've ruined everything he had worked the so hard over the course of the past years to achieve. But he had to be calm now, his costumer would soon arrive and if she saw he had problems it could have horrible consequences for her.

Chris meanwhile couldn't articulate a word. He needed to get out of here again. He had seen his daddy, he had been so close to getting out of this hell, but he hadn't made it. The demon had been way too fast for him to have any success. He was still really scared of the demon and he had the feeling that if the geographical distance between him and the athame shrank the odds of being sucked back in would be way higher.

And he was totally terrified of that all surrounding nothingness.

"You know, you're not improving your situation by stunts like that. Worsen it, at the most", Corox warned Chris. It was a completely empty threat, since everything depended on that child being present and unharmed, but he hoped he could intimidate the kid enough to stop him from doing something like that again.

"How?", Chris asked maybe a little to cocky, before he could stop himself. It didn't seem very sensible to him to talk to the demon like that, but he had always had trouble suppressing that character trait of his. He was always too fast to answer and thereby putting himself into more trouble than necessary.

He didn't notice the demon's eyes growing wider at his last statement, however. "Oh, you'll see if you don't stop doing stuff like that", Corox said in a voice he hoped desperately to be enough to stop the child from questioning. What if he knew that Corox had absolutely no useful power to make himself appear important in the Underworld without him? Corox knew he had the upper hand in the moment, since he was the one with the athame, but how was he going to ensure the situation stayed that way?

But the sound of someone flaming in interrupted his train of thoughts, and before he could get any further into his worries he had to turn around to face the demoness he had been preparing for the entire day.

Somehow the sight of her always made him shiver slightly. She didn't look entirely human but like a dangerous mix and that was making Corox feel very uncomfortable. Her long hair was a greenish shade of blonde that seemed anything but natural and her eyes had a cat like outer form, whereas the irises where changing their color from orange to purple and back to yellow every now and then. Sometime the two orbs didn't even fashion the same color. She was a lot taller than she was and still insisted on wearing high heels only to appear more intimidating. But she definitely didn't need them to make people fear her appearance.

"Calica! So glad you're here", he greeted with a false smile plastered across his face. Actually he was not glad at all about the prospect of having to deal with her, but luckily for him she was no telepath so she had no way of verifying his claim.

She smiled back at him and revealed her perfectly white, vampire like teeth. "And I'm glad to be here, I can assure you." He suspected that to be a lie, too, since he was well aware of the fact that she despised him deeply. "But let's not get too lost in showing our affection for each other and get to business", she added in a more serious tone.

She looked around the cave and immediately spotted Chris. "That's him?", she asked, even though she did not expect any other answer.

"Yes, he is. And I can assure you he is very well conserved", Corox assured, trying to hide the shakiness in his voice.

Chris was just about to incredulously repeat the word "conserved" but the sight off the tall and not very friendly demon in front of him seemed to steal his ability to pronounce anything away.

"He's small", Calica observed with while looking not too impressed by the child.

"Well, he's only eight years old", Corox tried to defend himself. Technically the boy was already twelve, but four years of not being able to grow or learn or develop left him at the state of an eight year old.

"I was not that small when I was eight", Calica claimed. Corox had absolutely no trouble believing that, since she was even without heels over two feet taller than he was. And he was not exactly small himself with his 6 foot height. But he could clearly understand why she chose not to leave the underworld to pay a visit to the human world.

"Well, he's just a mortal, so that…", Corox attempted to explain before being rudely cut off by his costumer.

"You said he was a witchlighter", she reminded him in a sharp tone.

"Well, yes he is, of course, but technically he has the same growth as a mortal child", Corox explained with a little sweat on his face. He had always known his negotiations would not be easy.

"Your price is too high", the taller demon told him after some seconds of watching the young with, causing the smaller demon to jump slightly.

"Beg your pardon?", he inquired very carefully.

"Well, for one thing he is very small and after you kept him in that stupid knife for four years he is never going to be worth the whole price", Calica stated calmly.

So she was going to bargain. Of course she was. Corox took a deep breath and managed to stop himself from scolding her for calling his very valuable athame a stupid knife.

"The size has nothing to do with the extent of his powers", he told her as calmly as he could manage. "And his stay inside the weapon did not drain them in any way."

Calica looked at him and still did not seem to be convinced at the slightest. "Well, then show me how big his powers are. If he's too weak, he is worthless to me, remember, and I do not like people who waste my time, mark you"

"Um, I'm sorry, I had to temporarily bind his powers since he was making an attempt to flee", Corox tried to clarify.

"Well, then unbind them", she commanded impatiently. "Or are you too stupid to unbind your own spells?", she added mockingly.

Chris had so far not even realized Corox had bound his powers, but now that he tried to orb again he saw that Corox had told the truth. But he didn't even understand yet, how he had been able to orb in the first place. If he was dead, shouldn't his powers have vanished?

Corox mumbled a quick reversal spell. "Done", he said quietly and looked at Calica again.

She kneeled down in front of Chris and spoke very slowly and in a low voice, but he still understood every single word. "Listen to me closely, fellow, I'm not going to say this twice. If you make any attempt of any kind to flee from here by orbing or any other way, you are going to be very sorry, because you can be very sure that wherever you go I can track you down and if I find you again I can tell you it's not going to be pretty."

Chris knew from the look in the demon's strange eyes that he had to take this threat very seriously, because there was no trait of humor whatsoever.

"Now show me your powers", she said while standing up again in a friendlier tone. Chris felt too petrified to follow the command.

"I suggest you comply, or else you're toast", Corox jumped in. Calica rolled his eyes again, because she saw an empty threat of his in that statement. But in reality it was a genuine warning to tell the boy how bad her wrath could be.

After those four years inside the athame Chris barely remembered what his powers were and that was causing to make him panic slightly. The only thing he remembered clearly at the moment was his mother warning him never to cooperate with demons.

But desperate situations called for desperate measures, and Chris was way too frightened to be the brave man. He focused on what his insides were telling him and he did the first thing that came into his mind.

He waved his hand and a huge rock that had so far been standing on the cave's surface started floating in the air. Chris waved again and made the rock fly a round around the cave. Then he put it to the ground again in the hope that would be enough.

He looked up at Calica but she only seemed to be bored. And the way she was displaying her boredom made Chris really afraid. So he focused again and to his surprise he dissolved into blue orbs once again, only to reappear on the same spot he had been standing before. He was way too scared to manage to get to another location even if it was just within this cave. The demon still didn't seem to be very impressed.

He concentrated again, afraid that she would somehow get angry, but the longer he thought about what he was supposed to do the more panicked he got. These were his main powers. He wasn't Wyatt, he didn't have the huge loaf of powers at his complete control. The only other thing was that he got a premonition once in a while, but how was he supposed to show that? And was the demon even interested in a passive power like that?

He was staring to shake all over without being able to control it. He was really desperate. He needed to show something else, or god only knew what the demon was capable of doing to him.

Maybe there was some power he didn't know about… but what else could there be? Maybe, by any chance he could've inherited one of his mother's powers. He looked at the stone he had sent flying and tried to think about nothing than destroying it. He lifted his hands, uncertain how he was supposed to move them or what he would to if the demon expected something to happen while nothing did. He concentrated on the stone once more and then something happened he wouldn't have expected in his wildest dreams.

Lightning bolts shot from his hands and the huge stone was burned to ashes in a matter of seconds. He had only ever seen one person using this power and only very rarely. And that was his father. It was an elder power. He had inherited an elder power. Under any other circumstances he would've been very happy to discover that he had a power Wyatt would never be able to get, but at the moment he would rather have had Wyatt's shield.

Calica however didn't seem to she his preference of the shield power over the lightning bolts. With a clearly excited look on her face she made her way over to the spot where the rock had been lying and examined the fine ashes that were the only remnants of the formerly big outgrow of nature.

"Clear shot", she said impressed and looked over to Chris who had suddenly gotten a lot more of her respect. "Is that all?", she asked in a friendly voice. She didn't expect anything more, since this power was way more than she ever dreamt of. It was virtually impossible for a demon to access an elder power since stealing these powers was completely unfeasible.

Chris nodded slightly, still afraid that it wasn't enough to satisfy the demon's wishes whatever they were. But then again he was pretty uncertain that these wishes were anything that would benefit him.

"Good. Bind them again, Cori", Calica ordered with a completely revised attitude towards him.

He felt pretty weird at her calling him Cori, but it seemed to be a positive sign. He was very glad the kid had shown this unexpected power. He mumbled the spell he had used to bind Chris' powers with again and smiled at her. "Done"

"Good", she commented with a smirk. "Then I think we should be talking about the price again"

And Chris felt his heart sink again. Whatever these two were planning to do to him was probably something very bad. And he had the bad feeling that by showing his powers he had only encouraged them further. But what had he been supposed to do? If he hadn't shown his powers his situation could've possibly worsened. But the question was, was it better now?

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"You what?", Piper asked incredulously. Somehow she started to believe fate was trying to play some cruel game on her to make her believe something that wasn't true and then mercilessly destroying her hopes.

Leo looked at her with a look in his eyes that told her he couldn't believe what just had happened to him either.

"I… saw Chris", he repeated a little shakily.

"See! I was telling the truth", the seer interrupted with a look of triumph on her face. But maybe that was due to the fact that she had managed to get rid of the ugly spot on her tissue which was now completely clean.

"Shut up!", Paige shot at her. Even if that Seer was telling the truth, she was very annoying.

Piper however remained focused on her husband. "How… where…?", she managed to get out. Hearing it from some stranger who was possibly up to something evil was easy to deny, but hearing it from her beloved husband whom she trusted and believed was a completely other thing.

"I… I was at the golden gate bridge, thinking, and then he orbed in and was transparent, and he wanted me to help him, but I was too confused and then a demon shimmered in and took him away before I could do anything", Leo said hastily, but stuttering a little.

"I failed him again", he concluded with glassy eyes and no longer looking into his wife's face but staring on the floor.

Only the sisters knew what he meant with this, and Wyatt was very confused, but he assumed that his father was referring to his inability to heal Chris 4 years ago.

All three of them knew he wasn't lying and the lost look on his face made them all feel pity for him, but the thought of Chris being alive and somewhere out there, alone, captured by a demon was worrying them a lot more. Maybe someone had been playing a trick on Leo to make him feel worse. But what if it was real? What if their little angel was really alive?

"Corox", the Seer interrupted the family's thoughts.

"What?", Phoebe asked confusedly. The fact that her brother in law was somehow confirming what the demon had said made her less angry at the Seer.

"That's the demon's name. Look him up in your book, I'm sure you're going to recognize him", she advised them all while her eyes were fixed on Leo.

"It's probably a lie", Paige said determinedly, even though in reality she was hoping with all her mind that it was the truth.

"What have we got to loose?", Phoebe asked and walked over to the book. She flipped through the pages in a speed that none of them could do as fast, since she had a lot more practice in "speed-flipping" as she called it. After some seconds she pointed at a page and said "Got him"

She showed the page to Leo while she was careful not to let the seer catch a glimpse of the precious family heirloom. But the demon seemed to be more occupied by examining one of the scorch marks on the carpet.

Leo gasped as he immediately recognized the demon to be exactly the same as he had met on the bridge a short time ago. "That's him", he told the sisters.

They all turned their attention to the demon who was still staring at the stain. "You know, I think I knew the guy who left that stain", she said thoughtfully. She didn't seem to be blessed with a long attention span. She kept on talking about it, completely oblivious to the disbelieving glares everyone in the attic were shooting towards her. "Always wore a horrible cologne and his favorite activity was farting. Oh and he looks a lot more attractive as a carpet stain, you know?"

She looked up and was a little surprised to have all of them staring at her. "So, did you find him?"

"Yes, he's the same demon", Leo said trying to hide the pain he was feeling at his inability to save his son from this scum. The demon said he was a lower level demon and not very powerful except for his unique talent for casting spells.

"See, I told you so", the Seer said. But before she could hear whatever their responses were, she was pulled into her kind of premonition.

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_Piper was just about to say something more to them as a demon chose that exact moment to shimmer in._

_Wyatt immediately threw up his shield to surround the two boys, while Piper glared at the demon._

"_You guys are annoying, you know that?", she asked rhetorically, before blowing him up. Wyatt put his shield down again. "Isn't there some way to stop them from coming here? Permanently?", he asked while observing the new scorch mark on the rock that already had many fellows there._

"_Well, if we used something like that, they would just shimmer elsewhere, like on the street where they could hurt innocents when they can't get to us, so it's better if they go here, where we can fend them off", Piper explained._

_Chris was not very interested in the demons, they were merely annoying for him. He walked to the back of the attic where the book of shadows lay, to see whether this demon had an entry and if so he could cross it off. It was a habit of his always to cross out the demons that were already vanquished._

_While he was flipping through the pages, a demon shimmered in behind him without making a noise. Neither Chris nor Piper and Wyatt noticed the demons presence._

_Just as Chris had found the right page he felt a sudden pain. A lot of pain. Before he could even see what was going on he felt a scream of agony leave his lips. He looked down at himself just in time to see the athame that had been plunged into his chest being pulled out again._

The seer watched the scene from behind. She wondered whether there was something useful to see, but she didn't have to wait long. She watched the female witch blow up the demon with a small movement of her hand, but something caught the Seer's attention. The athame he had been holding, a beautiful peace that seemed to be art rather than weaponry did not burst into flames along with its holder. Instead it fell to the floor, but before even touching it, it seemed to shimmer out.

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_She found herself back in a cave where the ugly demon Corox was holding the athame in his hand exited._

"_I did it!", he exclaimed happily. _

_The seer could feel the small premonition ending, but at least it had clarified for her, how the athame had gotten to its current owner._

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She gasped when she realized she was back in the attic. "I just saw how your son's soul got to be where it is now", she exclaimed proudly.

Everyone except for Wyatt was staring at her in disbelief.

"I don't believe you. How do we know you're not just making that up to make us trust you?", Paige demanded suspiciously.

"Well, your sister can check it, if you like", the Seer said with an innocent look on her face.

"How?", Phoebe asked, because she had the feeling she was probably the one the Seer was referring to, since she had premonitions as well.

"Well, you just have to touch me, that way the last premonition I had will replay for you", the Seer explained simply.

Phoebe was not too eager to believe it, but the look of hope on her nephew's face almost broke her heart, so she decided it was worth a shot.

"Phoebe, don't, it could be a trap", Paige said worriedly and reached out her hand to stop her sister from doing something, in her opinion, stupid.

"It's worth a try, Paige", Phoebe said and walked over to the Seer and took her hand.

Immediately she was pulled into the same premonition the seer had received some minutes ago. When she was pulled out again she looked at all of them startled. "It's true", she simply said.

"What if she only fabricated that to make you believe it was true?", Paige wanted to know. She knew from the look on Phoebe's face that it was indeed true, but she had the feeling this wasn't right. They would definitely have noticed, no demon could've been able to fool them like that? Or could they have?

"Paige, I've had some experience with fabricated premonitions and I can tell you this was real", Phoebe stated firmly, causing the demon to smile.

And then suddenly they were all surprised by Wyatt dissipating into a swirl of golden lights.

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Chris was desperate not to let his fear get the best of him. He had to keep it together or he didn't stand a chance. The two demons had gone into a corner of the cave where he couldn't hear them to discuss the details of their deal, but Chris knew that they were not discussing things he would've liked to hear. Whatever they wanted it was bad.

He needed to get out, but he was unable to orb out and he was sure, that if he did the female demon would not hesitate to turn her threat into reality.

He needed help. This much was clear. He needed someone powerful, who was capable of scaring the demons or preferably getting rid of them.

And he knew immediately who the most powerful person he knew was.

But he had no idea how to get him here. He could try calling for him, but if he was really dead he wasn't sure if Wyatt would be able to hear him and he would definitely have to raise his voice for doing so and thereby alerting the demons of what he was up to.

He could summon him. That was a pretty blunt method, but he didn't believe he had much of an option. But he wasn't even sure if the spell to block his powers the demon had cast wouldn't keep him from casting spells.

Well, trying didn't hurt, but not trying could hurt, if he didn't stop the demons from whatever they were planning, so he thought very hard, trying to come up with a decent rhyme. Luckily he never had a big problem with rhyming.

After some seconds of thought he quietly began to chant.

Older brother of mine 

_I call to you through space and time_

_Please come to this place to save me_

_I desperately need thee. _

He knew it wasn't the best spell he had ever made up but he was in a desperate situation, so he didn't expect himself to do a lot of lyric.

He was very relieved when he saw the familiar golden lights that used to accompany a summoning form in front of him.

When he saw Wyatt in front of him he couldn't believe his eyes. He knew that the demon had said it had been four years, but until now, Chris had been very reluctant to believe it. Now he did. Wyatt looked a lot older and taller than the last time he had seen him. Leo had been exactly the same since Elder's didn't age, but his brother had changed a lot. He had to be 14 by now.

Wyatt stared at Chris incredulously. "It's real…", he whispered completely stunned. He was feeling more joy in that particular moment than he could say, but he felt somehow petrified at the sight. He had wanted to believe that Chris was still alive, but he had so far not really grasped the meaning of it all. Now he did.

"Wyatt no time to freak out now, please orb us out of here", Chris said pleadingly.

Wyatt stared at him for a moment. He hadn't orbed for four years. He had tried to forget he ever did and now Chris was asking him to use magic again. He thought for a moment before being forced to admit ,"I don't know how"

Chris stared at him in disbelief and then turned around. The demons had spotted Wyatt standing there…

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TBC… please review.

Chris-crossed: Well, I'm mean, I kinda kill him off quite often… and somehow I like doing that. Seems a little sick, doesn't it?

Chi no hana: I'm so sorry that it's your birthday, I actually just picked a random date, I didn't think anyone would read it who had birthday that day, I'm really really sorry. Oh and by the way, does the chi in your nickname refer to blood or to earth? Just like to know.

JadeAlmasy: Yeah the people like me are all psychopaths…

Midnite-magic: Well, I don't think people like stories where Chris dies so I believed no one would read it, since it was evident he dies in here.

Ceres217: Als ich dein review gelesen habe, musste ich auch erstmal nachdenken um mich an den Artikel für Kapitel zu erinnern. Tja, deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache ;)

Danni88: you're seriously the person who has written the longest reviews to any of my stories, ever! I love you! And I'm really glad you like it so much, I never would've expected anyone to like it this way. I really hope you liked this chapter, too.

Teal-lover: I'm not really sure yet, whether I need to change the rating yet. I figure it wouldn't make much sense since the next rating would be PG-16 and I'm not even 16 myself. Seems a little weird, doesn't it?

Beleninwe: Yeah, it would be the same body, he would still look as if he was eight years old.

Grey Daze's Nirvana: Well, in your mail you told me your name, and I was curious to see who it was, but the other staff members of the C2 all had their names in the profile and they were different to the one in the email, so since you were the only without your name it the profile, I figured it was you. And yes, it would be the same body.


	4. Chapter 4

Please return to me 

Chapter 4

A/N: You know, I guess it's been quite a while since I updated this. Well, you might've noticed. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to finish this, and I'll try not to take too long, so don't despair. But if you're reading this, it means that you're still interested in this even though it's been over two and a half years since the last time I updated. For that, you have my sincere thanks. 

Disclaimer: Yeah… no, not mine. 

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Hastily Chris turned back to his brother, and urgently whispered, "What do you mean, you don't know. Of course you know, you did this before you were even born, come on!" Incredulity and Panic were mixed into his tone. 

"But I… I haven't used magic in a long time", Wyatt said and held up his hands in a defending gesture, only to notice that he was shaking.

"Why the hell not?", Chris said, and even though he was whispering it still sounded as though he had yelled at his brother. His eyes were darting nervously between his brother and the demons. Apparently Corox wanted to advance, but the female demon held him back with a gesture. She was observing the two boys intently, and Chris was sure, that that was not a good thing.

"Well, I… I thought… you know… 'cause of you… and how magic killed you… I gave up magic 'cause of that", Wyatt stuttered, and what had up to about 2 minutes ago had been his deepest conviction and completely reasonable now seemed to be completely incomprehensible and stupid. 

"That's the nuttiest thing I ever heard", Chris whispered/yelled, and had a look on his face as though he was going to strangle Wyatt just to punish him for his stupidity.

"Triple the price you just asked, if you get me the other one, too", they heard the blond demoness say. 

"I… I thought… I thought you would've wanted it…", Wyatt mumbled and didn't even dare to look at Chris' face to see his reaction. 

The fury in his voice was definitely enough. "Where the hell would you get that stupid idea?", he ranted. "For the record, I wouldn't have wanted it, don't want it now, and we need to get out of here!"

All the while he kept on looking towards the demons. They were slowly advancing, which seemed to bother the smaller demon, but Calica seemed to enjoy it. A predator who knew its pray was cornered and not going anywhere. And they weren't.

He turned around to see that Wyatt had gone completely pale and the look on his face was so lost and shaken up that Chris almost felt sorry for yelling at him. Almost. 

"Wyatt listen to me", he said and shook his brother's arms to make sure he had his full attention. "You know how to orb. You've always known it and you know it now. We need to get out of here. That's very important, so please, concentrate. I know you can do it." The fury had vanished from his voice and now it was ruled by such a desperate urgency and fear that Wyatt finally got the nerve back to try. He grabbed Chris' hand closed his eyes and concentrated. 

His brother was right. He had to be. Wyatt had done this even before he was born and the feeling was a part of him, as much as he had tried to deny these past for years, it hadn't gone away. Relying solely on instinct he searched inside of him, and found what he was looking for. He felt his body dissolve and it instantly felt so right to him, as if he had never given it up. But just as he orbed out, he felt Chris hand leave his and when he opened his eyes, he could for fracture of a second see Chris being held by the blond demoness and heard the words "Not so fast…" 

But by then it was too late for him to stop his orbing.

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"No", he cried when he rematerialized in the attic. It wasn't exactly the anguished cry he would've preferred for it to be, but rather an out of breath and desperate little cry, but that wasn't of any concern right now. Ignoring the confused stares that everyone in the attic was throwing at him he closed his eyes again and focused on going back.

Only to realize that he had no idea at all as to where he had been. It had been an Underworld cave, but those all looked alike.

"You!", he yelled and pointed at the seer who put her hands in the air as if he was holding a gun towards her. "Where does that… whatever… the demon who had Chris, where does he live?"

The Seer stared at him in confusion and shrugged. "I don't know"

"Aren't you supposed to know this kind of thing? What kind of Seer are you, anyway?" Wyatt ranted, but it sounded weak, even to himself.

"A… female one?", the Seer replied and looked at him strangely, as if she thought this was a trick question. 

"Wyatt, what happened?", Phoebe asked cautiously, in hopes not to upset him further. 

"I… I was there. I saw Chris", Wyatt spluttered out. "and he asked me for help, and I…", he hesitated sightly. "and I failed him", he concluded, and as if the energy had left him with saying that he let himself drop down to the couch he had been standing near. 

"Really? Is he ok, what happened?", Paige urged him.

"Well he wanted me to orb us out, cause he couldn't and I didn't remember how to… and he yelled at me for not using magic, and then I tried and I managed, but the demons were faster and no he's still there, and I don't know how to get back there and I don't know what they want, and if they do something to him it's all my fault, because I left him there, and cause I wasn't faster, and I didn't use magic and…" He seemed to have lost his thought. He just stared at the floor, not really seeing he continued mumbling something incomprehensible. 

Phoebe knew how hard this must be for him. He had talked to her a lot about his decision to give up magic and why he thought that was the right thing to do and now… it turned out to be a mistake apparently. She went over to the couch to console him, but then she realized something. 

"Demons? I thought it was just the one", she said.

Wyatt looked up at her with tears glistening in his eyes. "No there were two. The one from the book and a tall female one. Blond, and kind of human like and kind of snake like. They were bargaining about something, I think." His head dropped, just to dart back up again when he realized something. "Oh my god, what if they were bargaining for a price for him?"

For a moment everyone in the attic just stared at him and thought about the implications of that, but then the Seer, who for once was not occupied with something else stepped to the couch and knelt in front of him, so she was at his eye level.

"The other demon. Did her eyes have changing colors and her hair a kind of greenish blond? A little wavy?", she asked in a calm and much more serious tone than the way she had been talking before. 

"I guess", Wyatt said. He was pretty sure she was right about the hair, but he hadn't paid any attention to the eyes. 

"Try and look up a demoness called 'Calica' in your book", the Seer said. "That might be the demon."

"And if it is?", Phoebe asked. 

"Then that could be a problem."

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Chris didn't even dare to turn his head. He knew that whatever the demon was going to say or do was not going to be nice. She had cold hands and her fingernails that were digging into his transparent arms felt like claws to him. 

"Well, Cori, you were slow. You could've gotten the other one, too, that would have been more fun. But I guess that is going to have to wait for another day. I guess I can't complain, getting this one is a pretty nifty thing, anyway." 

Chris didn't feel like struggling or doing anything else at all. He had just lost his last hope, which had been being rescued by Wyatt, and he knew that whaetever the demons were going to do next, he would not have another chance like this to escape. Whatever they were planning, there was no way out left. Because he knew they would be keeping a lot closer watch from now on. 

When Calica noticed he wasn't struggling or trying to get away she placed his feet back on the ground and turned him around so he could look at her. 

"That was quite the stunt, you pulled there", she commented. She had stooped to his height and was looking him straight in the eye. He just now noticed exactly how terrifying two serpent eyes that were constantly changing their color independently from each other could really be. He felt weak to his stomach and that feeling was just joining with that other nagging feeling. That of defeat. 

"You know, that was kind of impressive, actually", the blond demon commented. "Pity that's not doing you any good", she said. _As if I didn't know that_, he thought. Failed escape attempts rarely brought any benefits. 

"Because you know, even if you guys had managed to get away from here, which would have been impressive, as well, you wouldn't have gotten too far. You're attached to that thing", she said, pointing towards the ornate athame on the table. "It would've gotten you back, no matter where you were." 

"But I guess we haven't been very straight with you thus far. I mean you have no idea what's going to happen, or why you're here. I think that's a mistake. I think you should know what's coming", she started in a more thoughtful tone. But both here eyes seemed to get darker at what she said and Chris really didn't like that. Her face even moved a little closer to his, but he didn't dare move away. 

"You will get back into your athame soon. You were out for me to examine you, now that I did you can get back in. You won't stay in there long enough, though. Only as long as I need to figure out what would be the best course of action for me to take in your case. You see, I'm after powers. I don't care about your soul and your feelings and thoughts and memories and whatever else you believe to be very important and defining for you life and your character. That's just annoying extras for me." The coldness and feeling of foreboding danger made Chris completely frozen in shock and yet shaking on the inside anyway. Her eyes seemed to grow darker and meaner with every word, even though her expression and her tone of voice never noticeably changed. 

"I am going to extract your powers. You will leave the athame only long enough to really feel what it's like to have your soul taken apart. I will sort through all of the things that are you, and I will take whatever parts of that are useful to me, in the process destroying whatever isn't. That could take a while. A lot of powers are hidden beneath the surface, sometimes never showing up in a witch's lifetime, and to get to those I have to work really hard. I think that's painful for the person that I'm taking apart. At least I guess so, but they always used to scream. That's annoying, but that makes it all the more satisfying when they finally stop doing that, and I have all the useful pieces of them in my possession." 

There were no words to express what Chris felt in that moment. There was no scream loud enough to even make others catch a glimpse of the pure terror that had taken control of his thoughts. He didn't even shake or do anything at all, save for staring at the demoness with his eyes the widest they had ever been. He felt like he needed to run or hit her or do something, anything to get away from these dark calculating eyes and the spirit of pure evil before him, but there was nothing. No chance for him to escape or do anything.

"And do you want to know why I just told you that?", Calica continued, moving ever closer to his face, now almost talking into his ear in a very low voice. "I told you to make clear what's coming for you, and to make you see exactly how pointless your little stunts are. And also, I've done that pretty often already. With souls more powerful than you and less powerful, and I have all of their combined powers. By bringing in your family you're only risking their lives, you know. And remember, the spell Corox used only separated you from the athame temporarily. No matter where you are and how far you go, you'll always end up there. In my hands, I might add. So you might want to do yourself a favor and stop getting on my bad side. Cause I can get nastier than what I just told you. Would you want me to do that?"

It took a moment for Chris to realize that he was supposed to answer, but then he shook his head briefly.

"Good", Calica commented, with satisfaction obvious in her voice. "Than I think you understand me now." She stood up and walked over to Corox again.

"Now, let's talk money again."

Chris was left standing in the corner, and he finally started shaking uncontrollably. As if now that he was free of the demoness' immediate presence his knees weren't strong enough ot support him anymore he felt them give out and he sunk to the floor, completely lost and scared in a way that he had never felt before. 

But just then a vaguely familiar pull came over him and before he could even do so much as scream he felt himself returning to his cold oblivion, inside the place that would bring about his doom.

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"So is that the demon?", Paige said and showed the page to Wyatt. The Seer was considerate enough not to look at the book, since that was not a good thing for her to do, but she seemed to be very interested in what Wyatt had to say anyway.

He just looked at the picture briefly and nodded. 

"So what's the big problem, it says here she's an upper level demon with an unpredictable temper, but it doesn't look like she's anything we couldn't handle", Phoebe said to the Seer. 

"Well, do you have dates on your entries? Cause that info might be a little old", the Seer said.

"Um… no I don't think so", Phoebe said and looked at the page thoroughly. The idea of dating the pages of the book of Shadows had never occurred to them and it just seemed wrong to even want to do that, but she realized that it wasn't too bad an idea after all. Since demons could change a lot over time in certain cases (her ex lover Cole one of the most notable examples for that) knowing when the entry might actually come in handy. 

"So, what's the problem with the demon?", Piper pitched in, her voice sounding just a little too high pitched and out of breath. She really didn't see how the identity of the demon could make any of this a bigger problem than it already was. The situation was bad enough as it was, and she hadn't even begun to wrap her mind around it, but wasn't the most pressing thing to get Chris away from that athame? If that was even really where he was.

"Well, she's got kind of a reputation in the Underworld, you know. She's not really someone who makes a lot of big noticeable trouble, but from what I heard she spent the last fifty years gathering powers from everywhere, which means she's pretty powerful", the Seer explained.

"So what? We've handled pretty powerful demons before, I'm sure we could take her", Piper said, fully aware that she sounded a lot more arrogant than necessary, but not caring one bit.

"Well, I guess you could, I mean you got the biggest reputation of all, but the thing is, the methods she uses are pretty… unconventional from what I heard."

"What do you mean?" Piper sounded a lot more worried all of a sudden. Apparently she had finally connected the dots meaning that the demon was probably after Chris' powers.

"I'm not sure if it's true, it's just what I heard some people say, but apparently she doesn't just steal powers, but rather searches the essence of a person for any dormant powers and completely destroys it in the process. But that's not necessarily true, it might just be gossip", the Seer quickly added when she looked in the faces of everyone around her. 

"You mean…", Piper started but then seemed to loose the strength to end the sentence. "You… you mean they just… they kept his soul alive in order to kill him even more throroughly?", she finished in a much more quiet tone. 

"Again, it might just be a crazy rumor… but it's possible at least", the Seer said. The way everybody stared at her incredulously and horrified made her very uncomfortable.

"Well you're a Seer! See if it's true", Wyatt barked at her, without managing to make it sound even vaguely threatening.

"It's not that easy, unfortunately", the Seer said with an apparently genuine expression of regret. 

"So what do we do? How do we stop her?", Piper asked. She felt like it was almost certain that the answer would be something along the lines of, that's not possible, and all hope was already draining from her. 

"What kind of athame is that, anyway? I mean there's got to be a way to separate him from that thing, and then the demon won't get him", Paige said with a little more resolve. "I mean, we could just steal the thing and then get him out of there, right?" 

Nobody answered and so she took the book and started flipping through the pages. Maybe there was something on that athame and most importantly on how to get Chris out of there. She didn't really expect to find anything, but looking stuff up in the book of Shadows was somehow comforting, because it kind of felt like doing something.

"Oh, there's something here about the athame, I think", she found to her own surprise.

"Really? Something that would help?", Phoebe asked suddenly excitedly.

"Um, not exactly… I'll read it out loud.

_Soul storing weaponry_

_A soul powered weapon is one that is inhabited by a soul that was trapped in there prior to the beings demise. The weapon gets magical powers through that, which are a lot stronger than normal enchantments and last much longer than more traditional enchantments do. The more powerful the being, the more powerful the weapon becomes. _

_The soul looses energy when the weapon is used and is destroyed through longer use of the weapon. These enchantments do last several centuries usually, however even though using the weapon even once does irreparable damage to the soul contained within._

Um… it goes on about how to prep a weapon to trap a soul, I'm guessing we don't need to know that", Paige said. She didn't feel too good about reading that out loud anymore. She had only gotten to about half the text before and not realized how very bad that looked for Chris at first. 

"They make it sound like that's a good thing", Phoebe said, looking utterly shocked by that.

"The technique _was _ invented by 'good' witches, so I guess it makes sense that they want to advertise it", the Seer said innocently.

"You knew all that stuff?", Paige asked incredulously. 

"Not really, only that it was weird for Corox to have one, since only witches can do that usually. Don't know where he would've gotten that from"

"I don't believe that", Piper said with a new resolve in her voice. "Good witches would never do something like that, I'm sure it was not invented by them."

"Not to use against humans", the Seer agreed. "But think about what it would mean for you if you could just harness the energy of all the demons you killed and use it against other demons. That would be quite a nifty thing for you guys to have, I imagine." There was a note of disapproval in the Seer's tone that no one really knew how to react to. But she was right, that would be an interesting thing to have.

"But good witches don't look for more powers", Piper still disagreed.

"Yeah, well not for their personal gain, but something like giving it to innocents that are in the center of demon's attention for whatever reason to defend themselves does seem like a thing witches would do", the Seer said. 

"Ok, I don't want to argue about that anymore", Piper cut the conversation short. "Is there anything in there about how to get him out of there?"

"Um… no", Paige said. "What if they already used the athame?" 

Apparently that thought had crossed Piper's mind as well. She looked at Paige with an unreadable look on her face for a moment and then took a deep breath. "Wyatt saw Chris and he seemed to be alright. So we have to assume for the moment that they didn't and we can still save him." Underneath the resolve was a pleading tone that made it impossible for anyone to argue. 

"We need to find out more", Piper said. "Leo, go up and see if the Elders have information – any information at all – that could be useful for us. Paige, try to analize the thing about trapping a soul and see whether you can reverse that effect. Seer – " Piper realized just then, that she had no idea whether the demon had any name "find out where they are. I don't care how you do it, but we need to find them. Come on people, we need to do something instead of talking."

And everyone followed her orders. But there was no way to get rid of the foreboding feeling that maybe it could already be too late…

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"So, are we agreed on the price?" 

Corox bent down a little and nodded. "Yes, yes we agree."

"Good. And maybe you should remember for next time (if there is one) to take care that your product doesn't try to escape, that might get you a better price", Calica commented. She already held the fateful athame in her hand and examined it closely.

"Yes, of course. I'll take care of that", Corox said. He hoped that agreeing to everything she said would just make her go away sooner. He knew that demons weren't supposed to be scared of other demons, but her presence just made him feel very uncomfortable.

"Good. So I guess I'll get going", Calica said.

"Um… if you allow one question", Corox started just as she turned to leave.

"Yes?"

"What are you going to do about the Charmed Ones?", he asked.

She seemed to mildly surprised at the question. She turned around and looked at him questioningly. "Nothing."

"But… I mean have you ever had to face them before?"

"No. And I don't intend on ever meeting them."

Since the deal was already closed, Corox felt bold enough to ask, "Are you afraid of them?"

She looked at him and seemed to seriously consider his question. "Well, my powers are high enough so that I should be able to defeat them if need be", she said, "But actually I do fear them. I do not know how they do it, but they've managed to bring down any demon with powers much bigger than theirs at times. They should not be underestimated, that's what killed most of the great leaders of our time. And that's why I'm going to avoid them. Which any sensible demon should do, in any case."

"But, with the kid and all, they're going to come after you", he said.

"The trick is, to get a buffer. Someone dispensable who can keep them occupied long enough for me to do my thing so that they won't need to come after me any more", she said with a small smile.

"And do you have a buffer?", he asked doubtfully. 

Her smile grew into a grin now, when she said, "Well what do you think I have you for, my dear Cori?"

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A/N: Teh evilz demonz! TBC, please review, I'd like to know whether after all this time you guys are still interested in the story.


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